


We’ll Be Okay, Baby Girl

by TheFifthSpirit



Category: The Last of Us
Genre: I don’t think you could really tell if you haven’t played it, I will forever love these two so much, Joel has a lot of thoughts and feelings, One Shot, Panic Attacks, maybe possible spoiler to TLOU2? if you squint, nothing incredibly graphic, those who played it will know what I'm talking about
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-04
Updated: 2020-07-04
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:14:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25075183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheFifthSpirit/pseuds/TheFifthSpirit
Summary: A one shot from Joel’s POV when finding Ellie after her encounter with David. (Again, I am horrible at summaries. My writing is better than my summaries I swear!)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 52





	We’ll Be Okay, Baby Girl

**Author's Note:**

> With the release of The Last of Us 2 and after finishing playing it, I went back to my stories I wrote for TLOU years ago but never had the courage to post. So here I am now! I have more TLOU stories and even an idea for TLOU2! So we’ll see what happens!

Joel made sure the door was secured one last time before plopping himself onto a nearby couch. The last thing they needed was someone sneaking up on them and giving them more grief. He allowed himself to catch his breath for a few moments before lifting his shirt and carefully removing the bandages that he was starting to bleed through. He could tell it has been a while since Ellie changed them. Just how long was she gone? How long was he out?

He remembered getting impaled with the rebar, Ellie helping him to the horse, and that was the last thing he remembered. The next thing he knew, he woke up and she was gone. He shook his head. The fear that went through his entire body when she wasn’t there in the house he woke up in almost paralyzed him. Millions of thoughts ran through this mind. He just kept praying she wasn’t dead.

Joel inspected the wound to his lower abdomen. It was definitely still tender and red, but he could imagine how much worse it looked when it first happened. Especially with the infection that no doubt took place. How the hell did she keep him alive? He shouldn’t have survived this. This should have killed him. He should have bled out or died from infection. What did she do to keep him alive? What did she go through?

Joel carefully reached for his backpack, grimacing when the skin around his wound tugged as he reached and felt a small trickle of blood drip down from the wound. He got the alcohol and bandages out of his backpack, and started to patch himself up. The alcohol burned and he ground his teeth, careful not to make any noise.

Once that was done, he sat back on the couch and tried to relax. He still definitely wasn’t healed and his body needed rest. But he couldn’t relax. Not yet. They were safe, and he was sure he killed the remaining of those fucking cannibals, but in this world, you never knew what was going to be around the corner. So there he sat, feet flat on the ground ready to stand if need be, rifle firmly in his hands as he listened for any noise out of the ordinary.

The wind outside howled, which didn’t help put his mind at ease. They were holed up in a dark house, snow blowing in from one of the corners, and the house was so old, every creak made him jump up and listen to see if someone was outside looking for them.

He pulled his jacket around him a little tighter. He couldn’t wait to get out of the snow. He always hated it. Sure, the snow looked nice as it was quiet and falling, but it was a pain in the ass. Sarah loved the snow. Would somehow always manage to hit him with a snowball while he was trying to shovel. Then she would force him to build a snowman with her. He smiled sadly at the thought of her. God, he missed her more and more everyday. The ache to hear her voice again and just hold her was physically painful and he wished more than anything she was here with him. But could he have kept her safe? He gently stroked the busted watch on his left wrist. He barely kept Ellie safe.

He looked over to the sleeping girl on the bed in the corner of the room. He got her out of the burning building with her captor and found a house far away from town, and somewhere safe. Somewhere he could defend if need be. He wouldn’t let anyone get to her. And anyone who tried, well, they would see the kind of brutal man he could be. His poor girl had been through so much.

She was softly snoring now. Exhausted. Her eyes were sunken in, dark circles, and blood all over her. When they got to the house, after he cleared it, he had her sit on the bed as he got something to help clean David’s blood off of her. She didn’t need to see it and be reminded of that fuck.

Once he was done cleaning up the blood, he went into the other room to see if there was a clean jacket for her to put on. As he made his way back to her, he saw her holding her knees, crying into them as she rocked back and forth. He sat next to her and she jumped before she realized it was him. His heart ached as he saw her in pain. So he held her. Held her as she gripped his jacket with all her might and sobbed, soaking his jacket with her tears. He held her until she cried herself to sleep. Even when she was sleeping he still held her, waiting for her tears to dry before carefully laying her down and covering her with a nearby blanket.

He could still feel her shaking like a leaf in his arms. He could sense she has never been held the way she was today. Never comforted like she should have been. He could sense it. He could see it as she clinged onto him like he was her lifeline. If something happened to him, who knows what would happen to her. He knew she was strong, and she might even find a way to the fireflies, but at what cost? How much of her humanity would be gone? How much more of her childhood would be stolen from her?

Not anytime soon, or probably never would he forget how he found her. He heard her scream. Then a crash. Grunt. Another. Another. Another. The closer he got, the louder she got. Until he was in the building that was on fire. He saw her immediately, a machete in hand, hacking away at someone’s face. She wasn't stopping. She was in such a rage. Joel had never seen her so tense, angry, and scared all at the same time. She was in enemy territory, she couldn’t trust anyone.

He called out her name, told her to stop, but she didn’t hear him. She continued hacking his face in, blood spraying everywhere. The bastard’s face wasn’t even recognizable anymore. He needed to stop her. Get her to stop and come with him so they could get to safety before this whole building went up in flames.

Calling her name wasn’t working so he grabbed her by the shoulders. When he grabbed her, she fought, pushing herself away from him, trying to hit him anywhere her fists would strike, trying to get away. He kept telling her to look at him, look who he was, but she couldn’t see him. She just saw a threat that she needed to escape from.

Then he got her to calm down enough, grabbed a hold of her face and made her look at him. Showed her it was just him.

Realization hit her like a ton of bricks. She finally saw him, knew he wouldn’t be the one to hurt her and that she would be safe with him. But as she looked in his eyes, he could see that he was the last person Ellie ever expected to see. Almost as if she was unsure he would make it, like he was going to die in that basement on that mattress by himself.

Joel saw her lip quiver and she fell into him, exhausted. She never had any problem controlling her emotions, rarely showed any fear, but this time she fell into him and let it all out. Crying for almost losing him, crying for whatever this fuck did to her, and just everything she has been through. So, he just held and hugged her, letting her let it all out.

“He...he tried to...” she couldn’t even finish the sentence, as sobs overcame her.

Joel held her tighter, “Oh baby girl.” At the time he didn't even realize what he called her. But he thought back on it when he was holding her earlier this evening.

Baby girl.

Only one person in the entire world used to hold that nickname in his heart.

_She’s just cargo, Joel._

Yeah, not anymore. That changed a long time ago.

She was showing no signs of calming down anytime soon. Terrified, exhausted, and incredibly scarred, Ellie said his name. “Joel…” and she cried harder. Joel never heard her voice that way, and it cut him deep like a knife, his heart hurting and his anger boiling. This poor girl had been through so much in her life, and it wasn’t fair. She deserved to grow up a better life than this.

Ellie started to hyperventilate, completely still in a panic. Joel started whispering comforting words to her. “Hey, it’s okay. It’s okay, baby girl. I got you. No one is going to hurt you anymore, I promise. I will keep you safe.”

This got her attention and she calmed down slightly before she hiccuped. She pulled away from him just enough to look into his eyes. “I won’t ever leave you again. Do you understand?” The girl that was still in his arms holding onto him like he was her lifeline nodded at his promise. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”

Everything that happened just kept replaying in his mind over and over again. He was sure Ellie’s mind was doing the same thing. Joel understood he did some pretty awful things during the beginning of the outbreak. But hell, he did them to survive. It was only for survival. And most times it was kill or be killed. But then there were people like that fuck that had his hands on Ellie. There was never any need for that. That fucker got what he had coming to him, and his girl did it all on her own. She was tough. Hell, he even knew that they got this far only because of her.

The sound of thrashing broke Joel from his thoughts and it took him a minute to listen and realize there was no real threat. He carefully stood from the couch he was on, careful not to anger his wound further, and walked over towards Ellie. She was still asleep, but thrashing around on the mattress, muttering and cursing in her sleep. When Joel got closer he already saw the tears on her face.

He carefully sat down next to her and woke her up. She jolted awake, ready to hit whoever was in reach. “Ellie, it’s okay. Just me. You were having a nightmare.”

“Sorry,” she muttered in a small voice. He saw her think back, and she was obviously thinking about what she just dreamt about. The tears fell down her face before she could even try to stop them.

Joel pulled her towards him and held her once more. “It’s okay, Kiddo. You’re safe. I got ya.” He would keep her safe at all costs. He wouldn’t let her die like he did with Sarah. God gave him a second chance, and he wasn’t going to waste it.

Ellie, who was still absolutely exhausted, fell back to sleep in his arms once more. He planted a gentle kiss on the top of her head, “We’ll be okay, baby girl.” His heart warmed at the love he had for this girl in his arms. How he has grown to care for her, and he knows he wouldn’t be able to live without her. “I love ya, Kiddo.”

Once this was all over, there would be no going their separate ways like he once thought. He could never return to his life in Boston. He couldn’t live without her. No, they would start a new life in Jackson, and together they would figure it out. Try to live somewhat normally.

Joel knew she would be okay. Ellie was tough, she would get through this. She could get through anything. He would get her to the fireflies, get a cure made, and he would then find the biggest dinosaur and astronaut museum he could. Just to make her happy, and make her smile. She would be okay. And he would be there every step of the way for her. No matter what.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I hope I did this fic justice! Kudos and comments are always greatly appreciated. Thank you my loves! <3


End file.
